Roguelikes games aren’t the best; neither is their intense gameplay. But with the release of the AAA, it gets hard to compete with the blockbuster energy that the games of the present time bring along with them. As fans crave new and refreshing ways to revive their minds, no one wants to play a game that takes pride in its repeatability. However, the best thing about the roguelike vs. roguelike games is that nothing about them feels mundane.
As we head towards the era where a 4k/60FPS is a ruler, here’s a list of 35 roguelike games that will keep you entertained for hours. You can test your wits and learn to overcome any obstacle.
Let’s dive in and find out what these games are about and what makes them the best.
35 Best Roguelike Games To Play in 2023
1. Slay the Fire
Platforms: PC, Switch, and PS4
An roguelite card-strategy game throws an intriguing spin on the dungeon crawler genre. Players must choose one of three predefined characters at the start of each run, and each of them has a distinct playstyle and initial circumstances that influence the player’s health, gold, and card count.
After choosing a path, the player starts climbing the Spire, an unending dungeon with a variety of opponents to face and secrets to find. You use energy during turn-based battles to carry out attacks, activate buffs, apply debuffs, and generally make your opponent’s life a misery.
2. Spelunky
Platforms: PC and PS4
A 2D roguelike action game where players go deep below and explore randomly generated levels that are entirely destructible and packed with traps, loot, and opponents, Spelunky is one of the few RPGs with a devoted fan base. You have various game-altering tools at your disposal to help you on your journey, from jetpacks to sacrifice pugs.
Death is not only fatal in Spelunky but also a great evil for honing your abilities and discovering more about foes and obstacles. The game has a startling variety of ways to die; most are gory yet are humorously depicted.
3. Flinthook
Platforms: Xbox One, Switch, PC and PS4
An action roguelite, Flinthook follows the numerous exploits of a space pirate with a handgun looking for a priceless artifact. You play as Flinthook, the game’s primary protagonist, as he robs haphazardly made space pirate ships, shoots down foes with his plasma gun, and uses slow-motion powers to change the course of time.
The main draw, though, is our hero’s adaptable Hookshot, which allows Flinthook to maneuver through challenging platforming landscapes and gain the required speed to avoid obstacles and incoming fire. You may level up your character in the roguelike game and explore different perks in addition to permanent upgrades.
4. Rogue Legacy
Platforms: iOS, PC, Switch, PS4, Xbox One
When it comes to roguelikes, Rogue Legacy is the best of the best and a bit of an indie favorite. The 2D action platformer incorporates a genealogical character creation where each of your heroes has a chance to acquire different attributes, including disabilities such as colorblindness or dyslexia. Each of your heroes is part of the same family tree.
These play an essential role in the action, giving each hero and gameplay a sense of genuine individuality. They function as more than just smart or slightly unsettling backstories. The game now offers nine separate character classes, each with a skill tree to explore and more than 60 opponent kinds to fight in a vast, constantly evolving castle.
5. The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
Platform:3DS, iOS, PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Switch
Edmund McMillen, who created Super Meat Boy, is the creator of the independent roguelike The Binding of Isaac. The game was first developed for a week-long game jam, but it was afterward expanded into a whole flash game that would be updated and relaunched as The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth.
Rebirth places players in charge of Isaac; a young boy forced to flee to his home’s basement after discovering that his mother has become mad and believes she has spoken to a religious ghost. The game is loosely based on the biblical tale of the same name. The game’s top-down viewpoint and packed dungeons, reminiscent of the original The Legend of Zelda games, make it worth trying out even though its somber tone and violent visuals may be too much for specific players.
6. Dead Cells
Platform: Xbox One, PS4, Switch, PC, iOS, and Android
The game is a 2D roguelike with gameplay influenced by Souls; players explore arbitrarily generated dungeons in quest of blueprints that let them make more potent equipment. Thanks to the hordes of tough-as-nails attackers that may be found roaming the dungeon’s multiple levels, obtaining these blueprints is not easy.
The game immediately restarts the players after each death, but this time they have a little bit more money than they had during their last run. The foundation of the game’s design relies on this, which creates an addictive gameplay cycle that will have you risking everything to see how far you can get without dying. Dead Cells has a large variety of various weapon types and unlockable perks, which increases its replayability and keeps it from becoming overly monotonous.
7. Enter The Gungeon
Platform: Xbox One, Switch, PS4, and PC
In the bullet-hell roguelite Enter the Gungeon, players take control of one of four heroes as they enter “The Gungeon,” a vast procedurally generated maze filled with dangerous enemies, dangerous environments, and precious riches. As players advance, the game recognizes their accomplishments by increasing the challenge and adding new opponents and traps.
The core of entering the Gungeon’s gameplay is adaptability, so each character introduces a special modification to mix things up, like the ability to pick locks on chests, a sped-up reload, or a prolonged dodge. This is further enhanced by a collection of peculiar weapons, such as cactus-powered rifles, target-seeking beehives, and pistols with bouncing bullets.
8. Wizard of Legend
Platform: PS4, Switch, PC, and Xbox One
By putting you in the shoes—or more accurately, the cloak—of a spell-chaining wizard with exposure to a range of intriguing magical skills, Wizard of Legend innovates on the Soulslike model. The Chaos Trials are a series of magical tests in which competitors try to outwit the most influential members of the wizard council. The Chaos Trials are set in the Kingdom of Lanova and include you as a participant.
Players’ spell-casting skills will be tested in these highly challenging trials, which also call for exact timing due to enemy hordes unleashing deadly assaults. Death, however, does not mark the end for a player because they can save any spells they have amassed throughout a run and employ them at the beginning of their future missions.
9. Wally and the Fantastic Predators
Platforms: PC
The Legend of Zelda and Sonic the Hedgehog are included in the high-speed roguelike Wally and the Fantastic Predators. Given that the primary character of the game is a cute fox named Wally, who wields a sword. You play as an adventurer exploring randomly created dungeons with different gameplay rules on each floor.
On one floor, you can lose your power to see around corners and find opponents; on another, you might continuously be surrounded by enormous stones, like Indiana Jones. An upgrade that transforms your energy into a projectile-firing ally is one of several game-changing powers that players may obtain. A similar approach can be seen in the game’s weapon and upgrade systems.
10. Darkest Dungeon
Platform: PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC, iOS
Darkest Dungeon is one of the few video games that expertly combines dungeon exploring and Lovecraftian horror. In this turn-based role-playing game, players must assemble and train a group of heroes as they travel across hostile terrain, including physical and mental threats. The game depicts a terrifying universe full of occult horrors with hand-drawn, gothic crowquill graphics.
With more than 16 character classes offered, each of them has unique abilities and faults that can be interestingly mixed to produce devastating results for both the party and the enemy.
Features like permadeath and an ailment system that gives characters mental debuffs like paranoia, masochism, terror, and irrationality make challenging turn-based combat more compelling.
11. Risk of Rain 2
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC
The Early Access Steam game Risk of Rain 2 has gained much attention for transitioning from a 2D platformer to a 3D third-person shooter. The sequel has kept the series’ fast-paced action, though, including its Roguelike gameplay, which has you striving to live as long as you can while rivals become more challenging.
The game gives you better gear to improve your character’s skills as a reward for slaying swarms of aliens. The character classes in Risk of Rain 2 are number six, but the game’s creator, Hopoo Games, wants to expand upon them in the future.
12. Haque
Platform: PC
A fantasy roguelike called Haque may make you think it was launched in the 1990s, or at least not as early as 2017. This is because of its glitchcore look. You are tasked in the game with eliminating all enemies while exploring randomly created dungeons, jungles, and deserts in pursuit of the greatest evil.
You must use various weapons, armor, and power-enhancement items to outwit and outmaneuver the adversaries around you in this difficult turn-based battle. Random characters are given new characteristics that impact how you play after each level. Heroes who pass away are memorialized by panels that recount their heroic acts.
13. Into the Breach
Platforms: PC and Switch
The strategy game Into the Breach was created and released by Subset Games and the studio’s follow-up to 2012’s FTL: Faster Than Light. The game is set in a distant future when humans are engaged in conflict with an invasion of monsters known as the Vek.
You fight in turn-based combat while controlling soldier-operated mechs that may be armed with various weapons and armor. The game is divided into sections on several islands, much like FTL, each with its own randomly generated mission situations.
14. Rashlander
Platform: PC
Rashlander, a 2D roguelite with arcade elements, your goal is to dock a lunar lander safely in dangerous settings filled with interplanetary trash, hostile drones, and warp pads. Since each level is entirely random, there are no patterns to learn. This creates a skill-based gaming experience that is further enhanced by various game-changing upgrades, many of which have their distinct tradeoffs.
This is complemented by highly styled aesthetics, such as pixel art with a retro feel, vivid color schemes, and more contemporary features like dynamic lighting. Rashlander’s simple yet addicting gameplay is made replayable with leaderboards and daily challenges.
15. Noida
Platform: PC
Every pixel on the screen in the 2D action roguelike Noita is physically simulated, creating a dynamic interplay with both the environment and adversaries. You play as a witch who can use magic to burn, explode, or melt everything that gets in your way. You do this by creating new spells and performing them as you explore truly random dungeons that range from icy wastelands to dark coal tunnels.
Dungeon exploration leads to the discovery of new areas and further information about the game’s setting. Death is a continuous threat that will send you back to the beginning, but you may use what you’ve learned for the upcoming run in hopes of going even farther.
16. Invisible Inc.
Platform: PC, PS4, and iOS
The Canadian company Klei Entertainment created the turn-based tactical roguelike called Invisible, Inc. You take on the role of a virtual operator for a spying agency in the game that is being attacked. The operator’s job is to lead covert operations agents to gather materials and assistance that may be utilized to save the organization within a constrained timeframe.
Players receive three days to prepare for their last task on each play. This is accomplished by fulfilling missions worldwide and gathering data, items of value, and tools while considering time limits. Each run’s mission specifics and map layouts are randomly generated and unique, providing various challenges.
17. Streets of Rogue
Platform: PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Switch
The dynamic gameplay in RPGs and sandbox videogames combines the greatest elements of top-down roguelikes in Streets of Rogue. It offers quick-moving action that encourages player exploration at every opportunity.
The game shatters the all-too-predictable dungeon-crawling pattern through the use of fully operational, randomly created towns that are brimming with surprises.
Progress is made by achieving multiple mission objectives, which the player can complete in whatever manner they see suitable. The player takes control of one of more than 20 distinct character classes, which include everything from a hyper-intelligent gorilla and a ninja to a soldier and a zombie.
18. Monolith
Platform: PC
A top-down shooter with roguelike features like permadeath and dynamically generated levels is what Monolith is about. You are in charge of a combat spacecraft that must investigate a deserted building filled with terrifying attackers, potent new weaponry, and skill-improving upgrades.
You may combine different playstyles to discover your optimal configuration while learning the numerous ins and outs of opponent attack patterns, map layouts, and traps, thanks to the seven distinct weaponry categories and 40+ unique modifiers. Hyperactive chiptune music perfectly matches the on-screen action and complements Monolith’s classic 2D graphics.
19. Flamebreak
Platform: PC
Flamebreak blends straightforward twin-stick controls with compelling MOBA-inspired action, enabling various playstyles to rely significantly on the pick-up-and-play concept generally associated with roguelikes. You are introduced to a new hero at the beginning of each runner who is a member of one of 10 unlocked races, each with unique skills and characteristics.
The weapon and abilities you choose to use in battle and your hero’s race will affect how battles turn out. Flamebreak provides seemingly limitless ways to explore and find the solution that works effectively for you, with eight different types of weapons, more than 20 skills to learn, and more than 100 potent objects to gather.
20. Straimium Immortality
Platform: PC
You can now explore the randomly created world of Cubicus in Straimium Immortality, an independent shoot-em-up roguelike with brutal enemies and surrealistic graphics. Your mission is to destroy Queen Emperess and her army of monster bosses.
In addition to being a video game recreation of an acid trip, Straimium Immortaly stands out and keeps things fresh by frequently rewarding the player with new upgrades for guns and other stuff. The game also includes alternate modes, such as Boss Rush, in-game mods and hacks, and unlocked character classes.
21. Downwell
Platform: PS4, Switch, PC, iOS, Android
Downwell is a 2D independent action platformer created by Moppin and released by Devolver Digital. A pair of powerful gunboats that kill attackers and temporarily pause your descent serve as your sole defense as you descend deeper and deeper into an infinite well filled with terrifying animals.
Your character will gather red gems as you descend, which can be used to buy various helpful goods and upgrades that may be combined for more potent effects. The game has a long history of positive reviews from critics and players alike, who laud its pixel visuals and compelling gameplay loop with its randomization.
22. Don’t Starve
Platform: PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC, iOS, Android
Don’t Starve is a roguelike survival game that is tough as nails. You take on the role of Wilson, a great scientist pursued by a demon, and wind up being taken to an impenetrable forest where there is no room for compromises. Wilson is compelled to learn how to survive off the land and protect himself from the local creatures while stranded without supplies until he can find a way home.
In the game, you explore increasingly more randomly created settings that provide supplies to ensure your life and hints to advance the plot. Don’t Starve has received critics’ praise for its brutal survival gameplay and its 2D hand-drawn animations and artwork.
23. Atomicrops
Platform: PC
Atomicrops can be compared to Stardew Valley, an action roguelike set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. In the 2D farming simulator, you have to protect your farm from a range of mutant pests while striving to cultivate enough food to preserve human existence after a nuclear holocaust.
You may hire pigs, cows, and chickens to automate agricultural activities. You can also explore different biomes to uncover essential items and gain improvements for your farming machinery. Additionally, the game features a marriage system that allows your spouse to fight with you, demonstrating that love can still be found even during a nuclear holocaust.
24. Nuclear Throne
Platform: PS4, PC, Switch
Another post-apocalyptic roguelike, Nuclear Throne, takes place much later after humanity has vanished entirely and only mutant monsters are left. You battle your way across randomly generated wastelands utilizing a variety of weapons and radiation-powered powers in this top-down game.
Your avatar develops new mutations as you accumulate radiation, which may change gameplay and frequently transform you into a monster-slaying machine. An array of shotguns, rocket launchers, machine guns, and lasers, all depicted in lively 2D pixel visuals, complement these powers.
25. The Binding of Isaac
Platform: PS4, Switch, Xbox One, PC
The 2011 game Binding of Isaac may have the appearance and feel of a twin-stick shooter set in a nightmare version of Hyrule. Still, it is an essential roguelike that keeps you trapped in a never-ending cycle of death and rebirth.
Though the horrifying graphics will guarantee that you remember this game long after you’ve set your controller down, the exploration and consistent rewards make it so enjoyable. Over the years, The Binding of Isaac has seen multiple expansions and re-releases, with Repentance from last year acting as the game’s final piece of DLC.
26. Synced: Off Planet
Platform: PC
Synced: Off Planet is a new free-to-play roguelike, and it is an online co-op shooter that seems to have everything roguelike and shooter enthusiasts could want. The game’s setting is a “techno-apocalyptic future,” and players must play to discover how civilization collapsed. For a well-rounded experience, the game claims to incorporate multiplayer PvP and Battle Royale modes.
27. Out There: Oceans of Time
Platform: PC
Oceans of Time is developing into a genuinely great sci-fi roguelike game. The action in Out There occurs outside, and the game is a deep, galactic space exploration roguelike. Out There: Oceans of Time is the follow-up to the film from 2015. The original game garnered favorable reviews overall, earning a “Mostly positive” rating on Steam. The follow-up appears to be advancing the situation. Fans of science fiction and roguelikes will undoubtedly enjoy this.
28. Wizard with a Gun
Platform: PC and Switch
The title on this list with the coolest title goes to Wizard with a Gun. The upcoming game is a sandbox survival game with an internet co-op. In a mythical forest, players will face off against frightening animals while solving secrets. Players can personalize their wizards with distinctive weapons and attire to make their characters stand out when playing online co-op.
29. Achilles: Legends Untold
Platform: PC
Achilles: Legends Untold is a standard roguelike game. The Developer Dark Point Games also refers to the Greek mythology-inspired game as a “souls-like action RPG.” So celebrate, RPG/Roguelike! Single-player or co-op players will have to combat mythical creatures and gods in the game.
30. Warm Snow
Platform: PC
The fantasy setting of Warm Snow is grim. The game’s goal is to defeat the formidable Five Great Clans and save the planet. The title indicates that the game is based on a phenomenon where snow falls yet feels warm to the touch. Players will need to solve riddles and fight with numerous monsters to solve the mystery of the warm snow.
31. Heroes Of Hammerwatch
Platform: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Switch
Right off the bat, it is essential to point out that Heroes of Hammerwatch is an extremely gritty game, yet the rewards for putting in the effort are well worth it. You are assigned to one of a few primary classes, assigned to a town, and basically given free rein there. After speaking with the locals, you learn that the town is in shambles and that cleaning out the well is the most effective way to prepare everything for the upcoming battle.
Gold and ores discovered there can be used to improve not just your hero’s level but also your character, their equipment, and the town they call home. In the event that you do not make it out of the well alive or are able to send your belongings back with you, you will be able to make use of your prize. Because of this, the advancement mechanisms provide the impression of being nearly unending, and there are hundreds of hours of content spread out across a variety of level types and biomes for players to work their way through.
Because every aspect of Heroes of Hammerwatch may be altered to some degree, even the most basic gameplay can be extremely satisfying, taxing, and compulsively playable. It is beneficial to bring along a friend or three with you.
32. Neon Abyss
Platform: Xbox One, PS4, Switch, PC
Neon Abyss, one of the more recent games on this list, isn’t necessarily ground-breaking, yet it handles every element with finesse despite its lack of revolutionary qualities. Neon Abyss is a hybrid video game that combines aspects of rogue-lite, platformer, and run ‘n’ gun gameplay into a single experience. It has sufficient qualities to set itself out, what with the aesthetics having a futuristic feel and the environment being a nightclub.
Since we last played The Binding of Isaac, we haven’t encountered such diverse bizarre weaponry, chambers, and concepts. One of the rooms may have a top-secret new weapon, while another has a gigantic piano that you have to play in order to win. There are moments when you have to choose to go with the turmoil at a cost, and there are other times when your patience is compensated. Each run is odd, chaotic, and ultimately just very refreshing as a result of the cumulative effect of these seemingly insignificant but long-lasting decisions. Take a swig.
33. Children of Morta
Platform: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch
There is a lot to like about Children of Morta. From the incorporation of rogue-lite mainstays to the superb sound design, it possesses a great deal of natural charm immediately apparent after only a few minutes of play. You have been charged with controlling and assisting the Bergson family as they go through a variety of randomly generated dungeons located within the caves of Mount Morta. These dungeons are located deep within the mountain.
Each character has the ability to level up, and they each have their own distinctive personality and play style. This is what sets Children of Morta apart from other fantasy novels. The narrative is exceptionally fascinating and unexpectedly profound for a game of this class, and the characters each have their own distinct personalities, complete with both weaknesses and virtues. Children of Morta gives the impression that it is attempting to tell you a narrative at every turn and is a story worthy of being told.
34. Undermine
Platform: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Undermine is a rogue-lite mine exploration game involving killing bosses and mining resources. It may be thought of as falling halfway between The Binding of Isaac & Minecraft in terms of gameplay. You take on the role of one of the countless expendable adventurers dispatched down a mineshaft in search of treasure.
You get to keep some of the gold you earn even after you die, and this cash can be used to purchase permanent improvements or perks for the following run. It has a bit more lasting progress than others, but this works to the game’s advantage in helping to strengthen its individuality. This is a gold mine for those searching for something lighthearted but still offers respectable advancement.
35. Moonlighter
Platform: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Moonlighter engages in a highly intriguing practice. The core gameplay consists of two different variants. The other feels more like a conventional roguelike, with randomized dungeons and equipment that disappear upon death. In the other mode, you manage a store and try to profit from the stuff you have managed to pick up along your run.
It plunges you headfirst into a dungeon and crosses its fingers so that you can find your way out. After that, it pauses the action and has you converse with villagers, sell goods for exorbitant prices, and simply enjoy the incredible soundtrack. You run around rooms furiously, fighting foes much stronger than you are, and then the brevity of your daily routine calms you down like a massage at the conclusion of a long day.
It is possible that because of its clearly defined development, it may not offer nearly the same amount of replayability as some of the other games on this list. Still, it is, without a doubt, one of the most playable.
Are Roguelike games challenging to play?
To begin, you should be aware that the Roguelike genre is notorious for its consistently high difficulty. They are designed to present players with challenging systems that must be learned, and failure to do so will result in negative consequences. Before digging in, you need to give roguelikes a chance to prove themselves.
FAQs
1. What’s the best Roguelike game?
The best roguelike games include Speluenky, Rogue Legacy, and Darkest dungeon.
2. What’s the hardest roguelike game?
The hardest roguelike games include Faster Than Light, Dead Cells, Brogue, Rogue, NetHack, and Cogmind.
3. What’s the difference between a roguelike and a Roguelite?
Roguelikes are a subgenre of role-playing video games characterized by random level generation and permanent death. A roguelite is a game with roguelite elements, typically featuring procedurally generated levels or arbitrary level generation.
Conclusion
With a list of the best roguelike games, now get a chance to play on your devices. These games may not be intense, but the mystery and adventure they offer add to a fun gaming session. We have listed roguelike, roguelike, and even the top switch games for you to download and play. Now try out these 35 roguelike games and uncover different adventures!
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Bethany Wilson 
Sarah Durrani 
